In the wake of Sprint CEO Dan Hesse’s remarks that the company could be acquired if the AT&T/T-Mobile merger is approved, Bloomberg News speculated yesterday that CenturyLink[4]could be a likely buyer[5].

What about Dish Network[6]? The Douglas County-based company, in the midst of an acquisition binge, is clearly looking to make a move on wireless[7]. Incoming CEO Joe Clayton[8] suggested yesterday that more deals[9] could be on the horizon for the nation’s second-largest satellite-TV provider.

Dish chairman Charlie Ergen said this month that the company probably won’t launch a wireless play without an established partner.

BTIG Research analyst Walter Piecykwrote in a blog post that Sprint could be a potential partner, though he believes Metro PCS would be a better fit for Dish:

A network share deal would involve Dish using Sprint’s cell sites to lower the cost and speed the rate of a network deployment. If Ergen executed a network sharing deal with Sprint or others it would still likely require a multi-billion dollar investment and more spectrum than Dish currently controls. It would also require some level of internal wireless expertise.

Sprint employs about 40,000 and has a market cap of about $15 billion. Dish employs 30,000 and has a market cap of about $13 billion.

Monroe, La.-based CenturyLink recently closed its acquisition of the larger Denver-based Qwest for about $24 billion in stock and assumed debt.

Neither Dish nor CenturyLink have their own wireless offering to package with a bundle of services, which have become popular with budget-minded consumers in recent years. CenturyLink resells Verizon Wireless as part of its bundle.

Dish also doesn’t have its own broadband offering, reselling Internet service from a number of providers. The company recently acquired a small CLEC and will use the acquisition to test bundle offerings[10] in Colorado.